Archive for November 23rd, 2007

Major US lenders have already taken write-off’s in the tens of billions of dollars. Heads have rolled, rates are still resetting (such a polite term for going up), homes have been lost, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that we have yet to see the worst. Although current write downs are inthe $50 billion range, the OECD says that we need to strap in for an ultimate cage match of calamity that will see an overall loss of $300 billion. Okay class, let’s review: Too many people bought homes they could not afford. Too many people were given loans that they could not repay. Too many people were given loans that they really didn’t qualify for. Too many lenders gave out too many stupid loans. And now there is finger pointing and blame a-plenty. To my thinking, lenders that are stupid deserve what they get. Borrowers who can’t afford what they bought do not deserve to keep it. BUt don’t worry, I’m sure that there is some kind of government bail out headed our way. Something that is NOT needed, but will happen anyway.

The Palm Beach School District had their computer system hacked by a student. Grades and attendance records were manipulated. A year after that, another student broke in, too. So they spent $1.5 million to harden their security. In an act of bravado, “it’s dared students and hackers to crack it, offering a free wireless router for anyone who could.” While the prize isn’t reall a big deal, one has to question the sanity of making themselves such a public target. Oh, they are spending another half million bucks on sensors designed to defeat “war drivers” and “sniffers“.

Here’s a tip for all of you would-be prize winners: go low tech. The easiest way to get into these kinds of systems is to capitalize on human laziness. Some already vetted user is going to make it really easy for you to pinch their credentials… and then the router is yours!